10th Unlock the Past Cruise: Days 4-6 Genealogy, Crazy Wind and Step Record

The 10th Unlock the Past cruise continues. And the days continue to fly by faster than I can write posts with slow internet. Anyway here is a summary of days 4-6 happenings for you.

Day 4 – At Sea (Wednesday 17 February 2016)
Wednesday was our first proper conference day, with seven talks scheduled throughout the day, and as is the case with all Unlock the Past cruises, you simply pick and choose what you want to go to. I sat in on four of them.
–    How to improve research with source-based genealogy (Louis Kessler)
–    In their own words: using government enquiries (Helen Smith)
–    The common poor: transported, indentured, enslaved (Judy Russell)
–    Love, sex and damn lies (Shauna Hicks)
Louis discussed the way of using sources to create a tree, rather than having a name and then finding the sources afterwards. Helen spoke about finding records that are written in your ancestors “own words”. Apart from diaries and letters, there are a number of records like newspapers, criminal records (eg. Old Bailey contains transcripts of the court proceedings) – these are people’s “own words”. Judy’s talk the common poor opened everyone’s eye to the many records that are available for the poor. Shauna’s talk was one that suggested that if you have a person “disappear” there’s a good chance of a family skeleton.  It was a great day of learning, and we had our first Research Help Zone session, in which Judy gave me great tips for researching my Trewartha line in New Jersey. I’m looking forward to getting home and following up possible new leads.

Day 5 – Wellington (Thursday 18 February 2016)
Thursday was a day at Wellington, and while the rest of the Unlock the Past team went ashore for a shore seminar, for me it was a day to explore to town. Docked at the freight port which is right next door to the Wellington Stadium, I simply hopped off the ship, was given a map, and wandered into Wellington. During my wandering I think I visited every souvenir shop around, and I did my part in supporting New Zealand’s local economy buying a few little things. While I could have taken a bus into the city rather than walk it, and probably in retrospect I would’ve, however my big long walk gave me a new “high step count”, and gave me an excuse to have some dessert at dinner. And I can’t write an entry about Wellington, without mentioning the wind. And I don’t just mean a “bit” windy. I mean the “you-have-to-hold-on-to-the-lightpole” kind of windy. It was phenomenal. However I have since been advised that Wellington is known as “Windy Wellington” and is said to be the windiest place in New Zealand. I believe it, but still it was a lovely place to visit. Back onboard during the afternoon, which gave me a little free time. Helen Smith gave a talk on the “Health of the ANZACs in the Great War” in the evening which gave a different aspect of military history to what you normally hear.

Day 6 – Akaroa (Friday 19 February 2016)
Another day, another place to explore. Akaroa is a small town on New Zealand’s East coast, and is about 1 1/2 hours away from Christchurch. As there was no port at Akaroa, we were tendered ashore in boats, which gave us a beautiful view of the ship. With a street of eating places, souvenir shops, and tour operators – it’s a cute town. After another tender boat ride back to the ship, I spent the afternoon onboard social mediaing. The talk for the evening was Paul Blake speaking on “Discovering Your Irish Roots Part 1”. I must day that one of the really great things about a cruise (as oppsed to other genie events) is that your have time to meet with others. You might sit with them at breakfast, lunch or tea, or go for a coffee or something stronger later and simply chat. Sometimes about genealogy, other times about anything else. It really is wonderful having the time to get to know people better.

There’s plenty more cruise to come, so keep watching for more adventures …

Related posts:
10th Unlock the Past Cruise: Days 1-3 Embarking, Roses and Glow-worms

One Response to “10th Unlock the Past Cruise: Days 4-6 Genealogy, Crazy Wind and Step Record”

1. Glenice Gare says:

   February 25, 2016 at 10:27 pm

   Sounds wonderful Alona.

   Did you get any tips to pass on? e.g. which way up is the steps counter? Hope you enjoyed the dessert- I am not noble enough to exercise before eating but then I am not as trim as you, so you deserve it!
   cheers
   Glenice

   Reply